Police on Wednesday conceded several bombs could be hidden in the city, over a week after an explosion in a flat.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jitender Rana said the police teams had been instructed to use their sources and conduct search operations in the suspected spots.

"Based on the interrogation of the five persons arrested in connection with the flat blast, the police suspect more bombs could be hidden in Patna. The police are acting on the information gleaned from them and necessary steps are being taken," the SSP said.

"Some places have been checked, but the police did not find any explosive. Search is on," said the SSP, who held a long meeting with the SPs and some ASPs of the city.

A source said the police suspect that 32 bombs were brought to Patna from Ranchi.

Three of them were stored in the Bahadurpur colony flat. The police were silent till Wednesday on the possibility of hidden bombs in the city.

The source said bomb squad teams had been put on alert.

One of them has been tagged with an ASP (additional superintendent of police), who has been directed to carry out searches and raids in the suspected places.

SSP Rana stressed that no terror link to the flat blast had been established so far. "Until now, there is no evidence of an alliance between any terror group and Naxalites either."

The officer said the investigations until now had pointed fingers to the involvement of a Jharkhand Naxalite outfit - PLFI.

"Last year, the security forces had found similar explosives with timers in the Simdega district of Jharkhand. This underlines the fact that this incident has to do something with the Naxalite outfit," the SSP said.

On a day Kundan and Vicky - two of five people arrested in the blast case - were sent to judicial custody after their police remand ended, water resources minister Vijay Choudhary said in the Assembly the motive of the men behind the flat blast was to terrorise citizens and extort them.